Ireland's Eve McMahon kicked off her world championship bid for Olympic sailing qualification place in Argentina with a 19th-place finish on the opening day of the ILCA6 world championships.

McMahon is one of 103 sailors competing for a chance to represent their country in the women's single-handed event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

While two races were scheduled for the day, the onset of thunderstorms and heavy rain reduced visibility to less than 50 metres, forcing organisers to cancel the day's racing. McMahon has six races over three days to prove her mettle and stake a claim for a place in the Gold fleet final round next week.

The 19-year-old sailor from Howth Yacht Club, the Irish Sailor of the Year 2021 and 2022, is in her second year at the senior level and recently secured the Under 21 world championship. 

In the single race that did take place on the opening day, McMahon held mid-20's place and even picked up 15th at one stage before taking 19th at the finish. She needs to secure a top-30 finish at the world championships to ensure Ireland's place in the women's single-handed event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Ireland's Eve McMahon, is set to participate in the first major Olympic-class world championship of 2024 in Argentina.

The ILCA 6 event, which starts on Friday, will see 105 sailors from 47 nations compete over six days to secure a place in the women's single-handed event for next summer's Olympics in Paris.

McMahon, a 19-year-old Howth Yacht Club sailor, the Irish Sailor of the Year for 2021 and 2022, is barely a year into her senior-level career, but she is hoping to secure one of seven places for her ILCA 6 class.

In Autumn last year, she won the U21 world title in her class in Tangiers, Morocco, and in 2022, she topped out her youth career with a hat-trick of gold medals at international championship events.

For McMahon, her primary focus will be securing a place for Ireland at the Olympic Sailing regatta in Marseilles next July. Eleven nations have already won places, with another seven spots up for grabs in Argentina. Further opportunities to qualify Ireland remain at the European championships and at the French Olympic Week in Hyeres in late April.

As the sole senior-level campaigner in the ILCA6 class, McMahon won't face a trials series, unlike the other two disciplines already qualified for Ireland. The ILCA7 and 49er skiff will decide Irish Sailing's nominees to the Olympic Federation of Ireland for the national team.

Annalise Murphy and Eve McMahon are among the nominees in this year’s Her Sport Awards.

After yet another historic and momentous year for Irish sportswomen, the Her Sport Awards aim to celebrate and recognise the incredible achievements of Irish athletes in 2023.

The awards ceremony will take place at UCD’s Astra Hall on Saturday 27 January and voting is open now on in the various categories, including Personality of the Year where the shortlist includes Olympic hero and National Yacht Club stalwart Annalise Murphy.

After calling time on her Olympic career last year, Murphy has had a busy 2023, both as part of the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) Athletes’ Commission and in the velodrome, making headlines in track cycling.

Murphy’s silver medal in Rio 2016 was in the Laser Radial, now the ILCA 6 — the boat of choice for Eve McMahon, a nominee for Young Athlete of the Year.

It’s the latest in a slew of accolades for the Howth Yacht Club talent, who is the current U21 World Champion in her class, is also shortlisted for the RTÉ Young Sportsperson of the Year — and was named as Afloat.ie’s Sailor of the Month for October.

Irish rowing double Alison Bergin and Zoe Hyde are also in the running for the Team of the Year gong as their Paris 2024 qualifying campaign made great progress.

Show your support by casting your vote at awards.hersport.ie.

 Irish Sailor of the Year Eve McMahon is on the six-strong shortlist for the RTÉ Sport Young Sportsperson of the Year.

The 2023 nominees include a Munster number eight, a Premier League star, two medal winners at the European U20 Athletics Championships, and world champions in sailing and para-swimming.

The 2023 nominees for RTÉ Sport Young Sportsperson of the Year include a Munster number eight, a Premier League star, two medal winners at the European U20 Athletics Championships, and world champions in sailing and para-swimming

As regular Afloat readers know, the transition from ultra-successful international junior sailing to youth and adult competition can be a tricky one, but ILCA-racing Gold Medal-winning multiple junior champion Eve McMahon of Howth found the perfect stepping-stone with the ILCA6 U21 Worlds at a breezy Tangiers in October.

The 21-year-old is currently in the hunt for a Paris 2024 Olympic place to bring to three the number of Irish boats heading to Marseille.

Joanne Cantwell and Darragh Maloney will present the RTÉ Sport Awards 2023 live from Studio 4 in RTÉ on Saturday, 16 December.

The awards are handed out on the night live on RTÉ One in front of an audience of Irish sports stars, including RTÉ Sport Sportsperson of the Year, RTÉ Sport Team of the Year, RTÉ Sport Manager of the Year and RTÉ Sport Young Sportsperson of the Year.

The winners will be selected by an independent panel of expert judges from across the Irish sporting media and performance world.

The transition from ultra-successful international junior sailing to youth and adult competition can be a tricky one, but ILCA-racing Gold Medal-winning multiple junior champion Eve McMahon of Howth found the perfect stepping-stone with the ILCA6 U21 Worlds at a breezy Tangiers in October.

Going into the final race in one of the strongest winds of all, her 18 points overall lead did not make her totally unassailable. But all seemed secure as she approached the finish in third, only to capsize almost at the line.

Her resilience showed through, however, as she calmly but very quickly righted the boat and finished eighth, enough to give her the Gold Medal by a clear 14 points. If, as Ernest Hemingway observed, “Courage Is Grace Under Pressure”, then Eve McMahon has an abundance of courage to augment her great sailing talent.

Irish Sailor of the Year Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) has won the World U21 ILCA 6 championship title in Tangiers, Morocco, this afternoon.

As Afloat reported previously, after six days of racing, the Paris 2024 campaigner delivered an impressive result, coming in 14 points lower than her closest competitor.

Eve McMahon in action on the final day of the World U21 ILCA 6 championship title in Tangiers, Morocco. The Howth ace sailed a consistent championships to win by a large margin Photo: Osgar

On a windy final day of the event, in stark contrast to yesterday's drifting conditions, she started in the middle of the fleet and worked her way up into third place shortly before the finish.

But a capsize threatened to ruin her hopes, but she still managed to recover and finish the race in eighth, more than enough to secure the title.

McMahon, who sailed a consistent series and was never out of the top two overall, wrapped up the championships on 54 points after 11 races sailed.  Switzerland's Anja Von Allmen was second on 68, with bronze taken by Carlotta Rizzardi of Italy on 81.

Eve McMahon - U21 ILCA 6 World Champion Photo: Osgar

Results below.

Although Howth Yacht Club's Eve McMahon discarded a 35th scored in light winds, the Irish Sailor of the Year has a commanding 18-point lead going into the final day of racing at the ILCA6 U21 World Championships in Morocco on Sunday.

Day five began off with sunshine, warm temperatures and a light south breeze signalling that all the storms were over and the stable weather was back. Although some scattered clouds and a lower sun angle hinted at the arrival of autumn. The plan for the day was to sail two races; however, at 11:00 am, the AP flag was hoisted as the breeze was too light to sail.

At 12:30, AP was removed and sailors made their way to the race course with a light breeze of 7 knots. As the afternoon progressed the gentle breeze died down to 2-3 knots making racing impossible. However, at 2:30 pm the first warning signal was hoisted as the northwest breeze increased to 7 knots for some tricky sailing.

In the first race of the ILCA 6 fleet the Italian, Emma Mattivi came in first with a good advantage over the second Ginevra Caracciolo also from Italy. However, McMahon is still in first position, closing the day with 46 points, a good advantage over the second and third positions, which are very close. Overall, second-placed Italian Carlotta Rizzardi has 64 points, very closely followed by the Swiss Anja Von Allmen with 65 points.

Howth's Eve McMahon continues to lead the ILCA 6 Women's fleet at the Under 21 ILCA 6 World Championships at Tangier, Morocco.

After eight races sailed, McMahon holds a six-point advantage over Italy's Carlotta Rizzardi who won Friday's final two races in the 66-boat fleet.

After the passing of a storm, the weather in Tangier continues to be unstable, with rain showers and a strong westerly breeze on the race course.

The Paris 2024 campaigner is one of five Irish sailors competing. 

Two more racing days remain and the current podium looks as follows:

ILCA 6 under 21 women’s fleet top three

1. Eve McMahon IRL 216111 with 29 points
2. Carlotta Rizzardi ITA 221459 with 35 points
3. Anja von Allmen SUI 220286 with 41 points

Results below.

Howth Yacht Club's Eve McMahon is lying second overall after four races sailed at the 2023 ILCA U21 World Championships in Tangier, Morocco.

The Paris 2024 campaigner is one of five Irish sailors competing. 

Wednesday started cloudy, with rain showers coming and going over the racecourse and the city of Tangier.

The sea conditions were slightly different today as there was a swell from the northwest and the wind from the southwest. The wind conditions were quite unstable across the racecourse, as the wind at the start line was more substantial than at mark 1, which was significantly weaker. The wind intensity ranged from 6 knots at the top marks and up to 12 knots at the start line, with gusts up to 15 knots.

In the first race of the day, the ILCA 6 fleet had three starting procedures, starting with a general recall, followed by a cancelled start due to a wind shift, and a final good start under a black flag. The ILCA 6 first race was the outer course, with Josephine Heegaard from Denmark arriving first to mark one. The race was very close until the last moment when the race was won by Italian Emma Mattivi. In the second race, the winner was again Emma Mattivi; nonetheless, with one discard after four races, the top female sailor was Josephine Heegaard.

In the male ILCA 7 yellow fleet, the racing was tight, and each sailor demonstrated their skill and expertise in the very technical swell and shifty conditions. In race one, the first place went to Italian Attilio Borio, and in race 2 Haruto Kuroda from Japan took the top spot. In the blue fleet, Finley Dickinson of United Kingdom won both races of the day. The top Irish sailor is Royal St. George's Ficachra McDonnell in 66th.

Results are here

Due to light winds and strong tide at the Sailing World Championships in The Hague, today's cut-short ILCA 6 qualification series has denied Ireland's Eve McMahon of Howth Yacht Club the chance to recover from a Black Flag penalty and earn herself a Gold fleet place. The Howth youth sailing star will now compete in the Silver division for the remainder of the series.

As Afloat reported earlier, McMahon had dropped to 81st overall in her 110-strong ILCA6 women's single-handed on Monday and faced a difficult comeback.

While Olympic nation qualification in The Hague represented the best possible preparation for Paris 2024 and the best indicator that Ireland is in the medal hunt, McMahon has two remaining opportunities to make the Marseille startline next July. These are the ILCA 6 2024 Continental Championships and a final qualification regatta just weeks before the Games itself.